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US Sanctions

On Venezuela, Only Hawkish ‘Dissent’ Allowed

May 3, 2022 Ricardo Vaz, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting. , , ,
Another NATO war means a media establishment in a propaganda frenzy once again. Corporate media outlets have cheered Washington for throwing fuel to the fire in Ukraine, with some demanding that the administration escalate yet more. Be it through their choice of pundits, or their own reporters haranguing White House officials for not sending enough weaponry, one thing is clear enough: Elite media will only criticize official foreign policy for not being hawkish enough. When it comes to Venezuela, corporate journalists have historically had little to criticize, given Washington’s “maximum pressure” regime-change efforts.  However, a recent unexpected trip by a high-level US delegation to Caracas to meet with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro opened the spectrum of opinion ever so slightly.

Afghan Groups Challenge Effort To Seize Billions From Central Bank

April 26, 2022 Center For Constitutional Rights. , , , ,
New York – Afghan civil society groups are opposing the effort by a group of 9/11 families and other U.S. victims to seize billions of dollars from the Central Bank of Afghanistan to satisfy judgments against the Taliban. In an amicus brief filed yesterday, they argue that the $3.5 billion in blocked assets belongs to the people of Afghanistan and should be used to stabilize the economy and alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe there. At issue are $7.1 billion that the previous government of Afghanistan placed in the New York Federal Reserve. After the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Biden Administration froze the funds. In February, President Biden signed an executive order effectively allocating half for humanitarian relief in Afghanistan and leaving half subject to litigation brought by some of the 9/11 families.

US’s Flaunting Of Diplomatic Immunity Challenged In Court

April 12, 2022 Roger D. Harris, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab’s case took a dramatic turn as his legal defense team denounced the US government’s flagrant failure to respect long-standing diplomatic immunity conventions. Saab’s lawyer, David Rivkin, called the US government’s arguments before the 11th Circuit Court in Miami “utterly dangerous.” “The implication,” he added is that “because you are a disfavored regime, because you're Venezuela under Maduro…we're going to treat you as somehow you lost the Westphalian entitlement to sovereignty.” And with that, Rivkin pretty much summed up the US imperial view of the world. At issue at the April 6 hearing was Saab’s claim to diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomat Relations.

Iran Says US Responsible For Halt In Vienna Nuclear Talks

April 4, 2022 Telesur English. , , ,
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that the United States is responsible for the halt in Vienna talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iran has transmitted its "clear" message to the United States through Enrique Mora, the European Union coordinator for the Vienna talks, but no new response has been received from them yet. "The United States should make its political decisions. The U.S. is responsible for the pause in the negotiations today, as in the final stages of talks, Washington tries to prevent Tehran from the economic benefits of the JCPOA," Khatibzadeh said, adding that "if the United States makes a political decision, an agreement is available."

IMF Admits US Dollar Hegemony Declining

April 3, 2022 Ben Norton, Multipolarista. , , ,
The US-dominated International Monetary Fund (IMF) has acknowledged that the hegemony of the dollar is in noticeable decline. At the same time, the Chinese currency, the yuan or renminbi, is slowly growing in influence, along with other currencies, according to the IMF. In 2000, roughly 70% of global foreign exchange reserves were held in US dollars. As of 2021, that figure had fallen to just under 60%. Meanwhile, the IMF noted that there is a rise in “nontraditional currencies” from smaller countries being held in international reserves. The United States has veto power over IMF decisions, and the institution is notorious for acting as an instrument of US political influence.

Illegally Imprisoned Venezuelan Diplomat Faces US Court On April 6

April 1, 2022 Roger D. Harris, Popular Resistance. , , ,
In a world where the US believes it makes the rules and the rest of humanity must follow its orders – what President Biden euphemistically calls the “rules-based order” – Washington has now even appropriated the prerogative to tell other countries who they may appoint as their ambassadors. As a consequence, Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab is fighting for his freedom before the 11th District Circuit Court in Miami. US economic war against Venezuela Alex Saab was appointed a special envoy with diplomatic credentials by the Venezuelan government on April 9, 2018. The businessman had worked on the government’s food assistance (CLAP) and public housing programs. More importantly, he was assisting the government in trying to circumvent sanctions imposed on Venezuela by the US; sanctions intended to punish the people so that they would be motivated to overthrow their democratically elected government.

Now That The United States’ Free Ride Has Come To An End

March 29, 2022 Margaret Flowers and Michael Hudson, Popular Resistance. , , , ,
Dollar hegemony seems to be the position that has just ended as of this week very abruptly. Dollar hegemony was when America's war in Vietnam and the military spending of the 1960s and 70s drove the United States off gold. The entire US balance of payments deficit was military spending, and it began to run down the gold supply. So, in 1971, President Nixon took the dollar off gold. Well, everybody thought America has been controlling the world economy since World War I by having most of the gold and by being the creditor to the world. And they thought what is going to happen now that the United States is running a deficit, instead of being a creditor. Well, what happened was that, as I've described in Super Imperialism, when the United States went off gold, foreign central banks didn't have anything to buy with their dollars that were flowing into their countries – again, mainly from the US military deficit but also from the investment takeovers.

Michael Hudson: US Dollar Hegemony Ended Abruptly Last Wednesday

March 28, 2022 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. , , ,
On Wednesday, March 23, 2022, the United States announced that it would freeze Russia's access to its gold. Russia has the fifth highest amount of gold in the world. Economist Michael Hudson explains that this action, which follows the US seizing Venezuela and Afghanistan's gold and assets, has effectively ended dollar hegemony, which has been in decline in recent years, and the free ride that the US has enjoyed abroad. Hudson states that we are now in uncharted territory as nothing like this has occurred in modern history. Sanctions on Russia are driving a shortage of fertilizer, which will lower food production and bring famine. Hudson predicts greater inflation, particularly for food and fuel, and shortages, which are all good for Wall Street profits, and more businesses being forced to close. 

Venezuela: A Model Of Resistance To US Intervention

March 21, 2022 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. , , , , ,
Unlike Ukraine, Venezuela successfully resisted the violent US-led coup attempt in 2014, and in other years, by right wing forces and the hybrid war being waged against it. Venezuela is recovering despite the ongoing economic blockade. Now, because the United States needs oil, the Biden administration has started talking to the Maduro government and there is hope that relations between the two countries may resume. For an update on this situation, as well as the future of Venezuela's US-based oil company CITGO, the status of Venezuela's gold in the Bank of London, the demise of Juan Guaido, and the kidnapping of Venezuelan diplomat, Alex Saab, Clearing the FOG speaks with Leonardo Flores, the Latin American campaign director for CODEPINK.

Senator Sasse Calls Saudi Willingness To Trade Oil In Yuan A ‘Big, Bad Thing’

March 21, 2022 Wyatt Reed, Sputnik News. , , , ,
On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported Saudi Arabia was in "active talks with Beijing to price some of its oil sales to China in yuan". Much of the world is looking to bolster oil reserves amid what the International Energy Agency warned on Wednesday could be "the biggest supply crisis in decades", as evidence mounts that US and EU efforts to keep Russian gas out of Western vehicles and residences may ultimately backfire. Sasse, who demanded on Fox that the US "rearm" the Ukrainian regime "constantly", and insisted that "defeating Vladimir Putin" is the only way to stop China from being able to "displace the dollar", is just one high-ranking American politician expressing alarm over the continuing de-dollarisation process encouraged by the wide-ranging sanctions on Russia.

Venezuela Defines Conditions For Sale Of Oil To US

March 20, 2022 José Manuel Blanco Díaz, Orinoco Tribune. , , ,
The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela maintained its willingness to resume its oil trade with countries such as the United States, and even those that belong to the European Union, but it has clearly outlined the diplomatic and political conditions necessary for any exchange to take place. Venezuela’s position was reiterated by its Minister for Foreign Affairs, Félix Plasencia, within the framework of the Antalya Diplomatic Forum, in the Republic of Turkey. This international meeting of diplomats coincides with the energy crisis facing North America and Europe, due to the economic blockade they have imposed on Russia amid the military conflict in Ukraine. “If they accept that the only and legitimate government of Venezuela is the one led by President Nicolás Maduro, US and European oil companies are welcome,” said Plasencia.

Network In Defense Of Humanity Condemns Kidnapping Of Alex Saab

March 17, 2022 Network in Defense of Humanity – Venezuela Chapter, Resumen English. , , ,
We reiterate our condemnation expressed on October 18, 2021 by this Network against the crime of the kidnapping perpetrated by the United States against the person of the Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab on Saturday, October 16, 2021 in the Territory of Cape Verde, with the complicity of the authorities of that country. We note that this crime is a new application of the illegal doctrine according to which the authorities of the United States would have the authority to act outside the borders of their homeland, anywhere on earth, and consequently to detain, assault and even assassinate at their discretion any human being, a fact that was perpetrated and publicly confessed with the physical annihilation of Iranian General Soleimani.

Venezuela: Government Raises Wages As Inflation Hits Eight-Year Low

March 10, 2022 Ricardo Vaz, Venezuelanalysis. , , ,
Caracas, Venezuela – The Nicolás Maduro government decreed a near twentyfold salary hike. In a public forum with trade unions on March 3, the Venezuelan president announced that the minimum wage would be set at half a Petro, some 126 bolivars (BsD) which amount to US $29 at the present exchange rate. The new figure represents a significant increase over the previous one of 7 BsD (roughly $1.6). The government is reportedly weighing raising public employee food bonuses o 45 BsD ($10.4). They are currently set at 3 BsD. Pensions and regular government bonuses, such as support for large households, will be updated with a similar factor. In his speech, Maduro called the new wages an effort to “salarize” Venezuelan

US Officials Meet Maduro, Fail To Drive Wedge Between Venezuela And Russia

March 8, 2022 José Luis Granados Ceja, Venezuelanalysis. , , ,
Mexico City, Mexico – A high-level United States (US) government delegation that visited Venezuela on Saturday failed to produce an agreement with the government of Nicolás Maduro. News of the delegation was first broken by the New York Times, which described the trip as the highest-level visit by US officials in years. Outlets subsequently reported that no agreement was reached. Caracas had not publicly commented on the meeting at the time of writing. According to Reuters, the US team was led by White House Latin America adviser Juan González and made “maximalist” demands concerning electoral guarantees. Citing three people familiar with the matter, Reuters reported that the US was seeking new presidential elections, a larger participation of foreign private capital in Venezuela’s oil industry and a public condemnation of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.

Disarming Ukraine – Day Five; Money War On Russia – Day One

February 28, 2022 Moon of Alabama. , , , , ,
The U.S. and its proxies in the EU and elsewhere have put up very harsh sanctions on Russia to damage its economy. The final intent of this economic war is regime change in Russia. The likely consequence will be regime change in many other countries. This war is waged at a financial size that is unprecedented. The consequences in all markets will be very significant to extreme. But experience from Iran shows that such financial wars have their limits as the targeted country learns to survive. Moreover Russia is in a much stronger position than Iran ever was and is better prepared for the consequences. The rubel fell some 30% today but Russia's central bank immediately more than doubled its interest rate to 20%.
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